Appearance and Character

Hother is old and gaunt with flinty eyes and a long white beard. His face is hard as winter frost.[4]Catelyn Stark considers Hother and his brother Mors to be hoary old brigands.[5]

History

Hother Umber is the youngest son of Hoarfrost Umber, former Lord of Last Hearth. His father believed that Hother had the making of a maester and therefore sent him to study at the Citadel in Oldtown around 250 AC. While in Oldtown a whore tried to rob him, so Hother disemboweled the whore, earning him the nickname "Whoresbane." The story is told in whispers because the whore was probably a man.[6] Hother appears to be a widower.[5]

A Game of Thrones

A Clash of Kings

Hother attends the harvest feast at Winterfell with his brother, Mors. He asks for ships to defend the Bay of Seals from the wildlings slipping past the Wall and the Night's Watch. He is ordered to work with Lord Wyman Manderly to build a fleet. Hother reports that the Greatjon took so many of the Umber men south with Robb, that they lost half of their harvest because they have too few men to swing the scythes.[3] During the feast, Hother blows a silver warhorn during a performance of "The Night That Ended".[7]

A Storm of Swords

At Riverrun, the Greatjon tells Robb that his uncles wish to remarry. Robb considers the possibility of Hother marrying a daughter of Lord Walder Frey.[5] Robb is killed and the Greatjon is captured during the Red Wedding at the Twins.[8][9]

Hother is present at the wedding of the fake Arya Stark to Ramsay at Winterfell.[12] He remains at Winterfell during the storms that follow the wedding. During a breakfast, Theon spots him talking quietly with Lord Harwood Stout. Among the snowmen that squires built along the battlements of Winterfell, one has an icy beard to depict Hother.[13] Whoresbane predicts that a freerider thrown over the wall will join Stannis.[13] According to Lady Barbrey Dustin, Hother would love to kill Ser Hosteen and Ser Aenys Frey, who are also attending the wedding, but will not do so while the Greatjon remains a captive at the Twins.[14]

The Winds of Winter

Warning This information has thus far been released in a sample chapter for The Winds of Winter, and might therefore not be in finalized form. Keep in mind that the content as described below is still subject to change.

And Lord Wyman is not the only man who lost kin at your Red Wedding, Frey. Do you imagine Whoresbane loves you any better? If you did not hold the Greatjon, he would pull out your entrails and make you eat them, as Lady Hornwood ate her fingers.[14]